Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, has said, he knows how Boko Haram started.
In an interview with The African Reports, which he shared on his verified Twitter handle, @atiku, Atiku said that, politicians were to be blamed for the emergence of Boko Haram.
When he was asked, how he was going to solve the challenge of Boko Haram terrorism, he said, “I happen to know how Boko Haram came into being. They were offshoots of political thuggery. Politicians used those boys in Boko Haram to win elections and then abandoned them and then there were no jobs for them. It was the same thing with the Niger Delta. In 1998, I saw it myself and I warned people.
“It’s going to be a multifaceted approach. It will involve negotiations. It will involve military action.”
Since the terrorist group’s insurgency escalated in 2009, tens of thousands of people have been killed with millions also displaced and scattered in internally displaced people’s camps across the country.
When questioned on how he’ll fight corruption if elected president, Atiku said punitive measures will not be enough to deter perpetrators of corrupt practices.
He said, “One way of trying to reduce corruption to the barest minimum is also to introduce e-governance. If you are applying for a permit, if you are applying for a passport, why not apply online? Why can’t we also employ preventive measures to stop corruption?”
“If we have evidence against you we arrest you and prosecute you, and take away the money,” he added.
On the incessant herders/farmers clashes and cattle-rustling, Atiku declared that grazing reserves was the solution.
“In each province in the north, we used to have a grazing reserve. During the season, the cattle are in the reserves.
“When it is off-season when farmers would have cultivated all their crops, then the cattle move out to the areas where the farmers have cultivated, allowing the grass in the grazing reserves to grow. These grazing reserves have been abandoned over the years.
On the fate of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) #NnamdiKanu and former National Security Adviser, #SamboDasuki, Atiku noted that the rule of law must be respected.
His words: “I don’t want to be individualistic on this issue. I reject any illegal detention, any detention that is not based on rule of law and order.
“Dasuki is being detained illegally. It is only a court that will say whether he is guilty or not.”
On calls for secession by some South-East, Atiku hinted on “a conference to discuss reconstruction”
“I don’t think there is any part of this country that wants to leave this country. All they want is fairness, equity and justice”, he added.
